Legislative Alert

H.R. 6429 – STEM Job Acts of 2012

The “STEM Job Act of 2012” seeks to eliminate the “diversity visa” lottery, which benefits immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. Instead, those 55,000 permanent resident “green cards” each year would go to the top foreign graduates of U.S. universities with doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (STEM). Candidates for employment under the bill would have to receive the degree in question from an eligible U.S. university in a STEM field, taken all of their course work in the U.S., be petitioned for by an employer who has gone through labor certification to show that there are not sufficient willing and available American workers for the position who are as qualified as the foreign applicant, and agree to work for five years for the petitioning employer or in the U.S. in a STEM field. A vote on the bill is expected 20 September.